The official opening of the Youth House took place in Tomsk in a historic building at 8 Roza Luxemburg Street. What it looks like inside, what you can do there, and how to visit — read on in our article.
Today, January 26, the first guests were greeted by a new sign on the side of the building — «Youth House». According to Tomsk Mayor Dmitry Makhin, in the future, the building is planned to be fenced, and food courts may appear on the adjacent territory. Discussion on the latter will resume this summer.
Then, guests enter the foyer, from where they can go up a stone staircase to the second floor or stay on the first.
What can you do here
So, the Youth House consists of a large number of rooms where a young person (alone or with friends) can engage in project-based, scientific, sports, and creative activities completely free of charge.
According to Dmitry Makhin, in the harsh Siberian climate, such a free space for youth will be an excellent alternative to hanging out in shopping malls and coffee shops. It is planned that about 700 people will visit it daily:
«Imagine, we live in such a climate that it»s really uncomfortable to walk outside. And where did our youth have left to hang out? In shopping malls or sitting somewhere in the coffee shops of «Izumrudny Gorod» (the largest shopping center in Tomsk, — Ed.). But now you can come and engage in creativity.«
According to the mayor, the Youth House will be maintained from the city budget. Funds for this have already been allocated.
He also added that although visiting the new space is free, beforehand, by phone or through the Youth House«s social media, one needs to select a date, time, activity direction, and book the desired location. This can be done either in a large group or alone.
The Youth House is located in a historical building built in 1877. Before the Revolution, it housed the Alexeyev School. In 1920, it was converted into a second-level labor school. After that, the building housed various educational institutions (Tomsk Construction Technical School, Tomsk Road Technical School) and administrative bodies.
Due to its emergency condition, the building stood vacant and deteriorated from the 2010s. In 2025, the building began to be renovated to open the Youth House there. The building«s calling card was a mural of a girl in a pig guise, which in 2021, as part of the Street Vision festival, was painted by an artist from Kyrgyzstan CHERVI (Yevgeny Makshakov). But during the renovation, the authorities decided not to preserve it.
